The Heat joins the Eastern Conference's Boston Celtics and the West's Los Angeles Lakers as the only franchises to make four straight NBA Finals. Both of those franchises accomplished the feat in the 1980s. The Celtics also went to 10 straight Finals in the 1950s-1960s, winning eight in a row.

Indiana entered Friday with a 3-0 record in elimination games this season. But instead of continuing that streak, the Pacers saw their season end at the hands of the Heat for the third straight year.

Pacers forward Paul George, who had 37 points in Game 5, had 29 points Friday, but he had just one point in the first half when the game was still somewhat in doubt.

Stephenson, meanwhile, was the focal point once again when it came to antics and even a hard foul. In the first quarter, he made a three-pointer and was hit in the face by James, who was face-guarding him. No foul was called.

A couple minutes later, Stephenson -- deliberately but lightly -- touched James' face. James objected but no foul was called.

With 8:47 left in the second quarter, Stephenson hit Heat guard Norris Cole with an open hand to the face. Stephenson was ostensibly going for the ball, but he was out of control and was assessed a flagrant foul.

A couple of minutes later, Heat forward Shane Battier ran over Stephenson. Once again, the referees let it go.

But it didn't matter in terms of the result. The Pacers, who worked all season to get the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage, never got the Game 7 at their arena that they had anticipated.

Indiana got off to a 9-2 start, but Miami dominated the rest of the first quarter to take a 24-13 lead. The Heat closed the quarter on a 22-4 run, and the Pacers missed 14 of their final 15 shots.

Miami continued to dominate in the second quarter and went into halftime leading 60-34. The Heat outrebounded the Pacers 23-13 in the first half and also had more points in the paint, 32-12.